The sky was clear, the full moon bright. Last night my backyard was flooded with light as bright as day.
The trees and even the twigs cast shadows. If I was a mouse there would be no hiding from an owl in that silvery light.
Above the Arctic Circle the sun set on September 21 inaugurating six months of perpetual darkness – or so I thought until the moon reminded me that once a month everything is revealed.
I imagine last night on Banks Island. The sea ice glints in the moonlight. An arctic fox crouches to pounce on a lemming. A raven scans the ice for seal guts, remains of a polar bear’s meal. Night is turned to day.
The Snow Moon will wane. In two weeks time only stars will illuminate the scene. The night will be dim until the next full moon – a Blue Moon – on December 31.
(photo by Chuck Tague. See Chuck’s moon-watch in Florida and his Full Moon Schedule for 2010.)
It was a nice night yesterday. We have a large park in Upper St. Clair called Boyce Mayview Park, and there is a facility called the Regional Environmental Education Center in the park that presents programs on various nature topics. One of the things that they do are monthly full moon hikes. I went on one last February and it’s a lot of fun. They have programs on bird watching, raptors, mushrooms, lots of different topics. It’s a great park for wildflowers also…500 mostly undeveloped acres with about 10 miles of trails through it. And they have a wetlands with lots of different birds. I don’t know if Kate minds promoting nature sites, but if I can put the URL in for their web site, it’s http://www.regionaleec.org/
I have spent many happy hours wandering through this park and would highly recommend it.